Mick Fanning might tell you that surfing is fraught with danger but that sport has nothing on the perilous practice of train surfing.
The latest victim is a 19-year-old matric pupil known as Loyiso, the young man losing his life attempting to leap in and out of a moving train. He was apparently on his way to Orlando High School when the incident occurred. Here’s IOL:
“He was jumping in and out when he unfortunately slipped and fell in between the platform and the train onto the tracks at Chiawelo railway station. He had multiple injuries,” said Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi.
“It was a group of boys surfing, and unfortunately one of them fell onto the tracks and his head was chopped off,” he said.
Train surfing has steadily increased in popularity, especially amongst young males who have even formed rival groups that compete against one another. Mulaudzi stated another schoolchild had died just last week in Mayfair and implored train riders to exercise greater caution:
Schoolchildren should refrain from such a dangerous exercise. They think it’s smart to jump in and out but they should learn from seeing this child dying.”
Below is a YouTube video posted by Luz Photo late last year that explores the phenomenon.
[sources:iol&youtube&youonlyliveonce]
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